John Hays Hammond, Jr. and His Castle Museum 3

Hammond Castle is a 1920's structure distressed to appear much older. The stonework was stained and aged using cow manure and the original drawbridge was, in fact, an old section of dock already possessing its own suitably ancient appearance.

For years there has been a misperception that Hammond Castle was constructed jigsaw fashion out of actual bits and pieces of actual castles imported from Europe but the structure only incorporates authentic detail work such as doorways and windows from the historic rubble left behind after the First World War. This is exactly what Jack had intended when he commissioned the architectural firm of Allen & Collens to carry out his wishes.

Exasperatingly, he was also involved in every phase of the design, often changing the plans to include a new discovery from abroad. After this exercise, Allen & Collens went on to design The Cloisters Museum in New York City for the Rockefeller family, who toured Abbadia Mare getting ideas on how to carry out such a project for themselves.

The keep of Hammond Castle is Gothic as specifically stipulated by Jack. It is not Norman as has been claimed on cable television shows by so-called "experts" who simply read from an erroneous script and never took the time to visit.*
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(*The Norman style is denoted by square towers and rounded arches while the Gothic style is denoted by rounded towers and peaked arches.)
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The eighty-five foot towers actually house the pipes to an organ Jack began developing in the early 1920's. He continued tinkering and improving upon it throughout his life. The organ consol is still on display in the castle's Great Hall, but unfortunately, because of the sea air and lack of upkeep, the inner-workings are now in a state of disrepair so as to make it unplayable.

The courtyard was designed to appear like a medieval village which had sprouted up around Roman ruins. It is roofed by a glass canopy so that the temperature can be regulated and it is rigged to allow for manually operated rainstorms and moonlight. This was Greta Garbo's favorite section of the house. As a friend of Jack's younger brother and the lover of his close friend, Leopold Stokowski, Garbo stayed here on several occasions during the 1930's and reveled in the courtyard's swimming pool.